


fire foretold

by discoveriesofbishmont (AlexiaBlackbriar13)



Category: A Discovery of Witches (TV)
Genre: 1x08 Related, Angst, Anxiety, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Magical training, Nightmares, Prophetic Dreams, Prophetic Visions, Second Sight - Freeform, Set during those 6 days we missed, Timewalking, Witchfire, Witchwater, Witchwind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 13:03:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17080814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiaBlackbriar13/pseuds/discoveriesofbishmont
Summary: Diana begins suffering from nightmares about accidentally hurting Matthew with out of control witchfire, that she soon believes to be visions of the future.Although Matthew, Sarah and Em try and ease her worries, she's still terrified of harming him. It's impossible to run from the future, after all.





	fire foretold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [felicityollies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/felicityollies/gifts).



> happy birthday @felicityollies!!!!!! I hope you enjoy your birthday/holiday/Christmas gift - and I hope I delivered on the 'angst but with a happy ending' front lol.
> 
> this is set during 1x08, during the 6 days unaccounted for at the bishop house
> 
> follow me on tumblr @discoveriesofbishmont!

“I really don’t think this is a good idea, Matthew,” Diana said, her stomach twisting with nausea as she allowed her vampire boyfriend to lead her through Madison woods at the back of the Bishop House, tugging her along. “I don’t like this.”

“You need to learn how to wield your witchfire properly,” Matthew pointed out. “You were able to summon it when you were up against Juliette because of how overwhelmed you were by different emotions. Panic and frustration trigger your witchwind, sadness and dejection trigger your witchwater… We need to work out which emotions trigger your witchfire so you can start to control it.”

“And I completely agree with you there. But not today. Not here. Please. It’s not the right time.”

Matthew sighed, releasing her hand so he could turn around and cup her face delicately, pressing a tender kiss to her forehead. “We have four days until All Hallow’s Eve, Diana. We haven’t got much time in the present left. It has to be now.”

Diana wanted to argue with him, but Matthew was already holding her hand and guiding her through the trees again. She didn’t know how to explain why she didn’t want to partake in magical self-defense training today - she didn’t even know whether she had a right to be concerned or not. But considering how all of her magical abilities had been manifesting recently… it wasn’t impossible to assume that she had second sight.

Diana had suffered horrific nightmares over the last two nights about hurting Matthew with witchfire. In the dreams, the two of them had been training in the woods, and the vampire had been doing and saying things to anger and frustrate her. She couldn’t remember what. But her fury had swollen up like a balloon inside of her before bursting with the force of a nuclear bomb, and fire had exploded out of her, decimating the forest surrounding them. In the nightmares, Matthew had been struck by the flames. Last night’s dream had been worse than the night before’s; Matthew’s scream of pain had panicked her so much that Diana had woken up breathless and on the verge of a panic attack. She’d only calmed down once she realized that the vampire was safe and fast asleep beside her, his chest pressed to her back as he spooned her in their shared bed.

Her heart had sunk when Matthew had suggested going out into the woods for more training after finishing breakfast. Diana swallowed down her scrambled eggs, which despite being amazing and one of Sarah’s best culinary dishes, tasted like sawdust in her mouth, and tried to draw out her cup of tea for as long as possible. She’d had nightmares about hurting Matthew with witchfire during a training session and now, barely a couple hours later, the vampire wanted her to go out in the woods with him and try and gain control over her powers. Rebecca Bishop had been the gifted seer in their family so it wasn’t ridiculous to assume that Diana might have inherited second sight from her, although according to Em, she’d never shown any aptitude for seeing into the future.

She was anxious and nervous. Matthew seemed determined to get her back into magical training. Would he even believe her if she told him she’d had potential visions of the future, of her harming him with witchfire? The vampire had studied her DNA and knew her genome like he knew the back of his hand. He’d told her she carried every known witch gene he, Miriam and Marcus had been able to identify - surely Matthew had to be aware of whether or not she carried the gene for second sight.

“Matthew, stop,” she finally said, yanking her hand out of his grasp. Diana rooted her feet into the ground, refusing to go any further. A gentle breeze stirred at her feet, whipping up the leaf litter around her lightly as her agitation caused a small witchwind around her. “You’re not listening to me.”

The vampire blinked at her, confused, and his eyes softened. He took her hands within his, peering down at her concernedly. “I’m listening now, _mon coeur_.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” she repeated. “And I really don’t like this. When I say this isn’t the right time - I think visions have been coming through in my dreams these last couple of nights. Foretellings of what’s going to happen today. I had nightmares about us training, me trying to control my witchfire and… you got hurt. Badly.”

Instead of appearing horrified as he should have upon hearing her admit to having a vision about injuring him, Matthew looked intrigued. “Your second sight is coming through?”

“You said you’re listening to me but you’re not,” she said, annoyed. The breeze causing leaves to dance over her shoes increased in intensity slightly, ruffling their clothes.

Matthew glanced down at his coat, which was flapping back and forth due to her witchwind, and then looked back up at her apologetically. “I’m sorry. I am listening, I promise. I’m just focusing in on the wrong details. You said that in your visions, I was hurt?”

Collapsing against him, Diana buried her face against the vampire’s chest, wrapping her arms around his waist in a warm hug. “I released witchfire, but in an uncontrolled way. It exploded out of me and you got hit. I don’t want to hurt you, Matthew.”

“You won’t,” he tried to comfort her.

“You don’t know that.”

“I don’t,” he conceded. “But your dreams might have been just that, Diana. Dreams. There’s no guarantee that they were in fact visions of some kind.” He lowered his face, stroking his hand over her hair. “I can’t imagine how terrified you must have been when Juliette attacked us. You killed her with witchfire.”

“And I don’t regret it,” she said fiercely, her hands clenching the back of his coat. Just the memory of Juliette standing over Matthew with his throat torn out was enough to make her hands tingle, the urge to draw back an imaginary bow overwhelming.

“Of course not. But it would have had an effect on you psychologically, without you even realizing it. It’s highly likely that nightmares are just your trauma manifesting itself.” Seeing how Diana wasn’t reassured, Matthew added, “If it helps you feel better, we can practice with witchwater rather than witchfire today.”

She exhaled shakily. “Yes please.”

Their training was thoroughly depressing, only because Matthew kept on asking her to tap into sorrowful emotions to begin triggering her witchwater. They knew from the first time she’d summoned it at Sept-Tours that heavy crying was a good point to begin with. Her parents and her spellbinding were the main topics of discussion. Diana managed to finally tap into her water-wielding abilities and was soon able to make it rain on cue, as well as pour water from her hands. She certainly had a long way to go - Matthew told her that he’d known a water witch when he was much younger that could control the waves of the ocean with her mind - but it was a start, at least.

Diana was so exhausted and frankly very dehydrated after all her witchwater-ing that Matthew had to hoist her up into his arms bridal style and carry her back to the Bishop house. Sophie, Sarah, and Em immediately fussed over her upon their arrival, swaddling her with blankets on the couch and offering her cups of tea. Marcus, Miriam, and Hamish watched on with faint smirks on their faces and knowing looks in their eyes as Matthew lifted the witch up and slid under her, cradling Diana to his chest protectively as she rested her eyes.

“So Diana is a waterbender?” Nate asked, apparently having a conversation with Marcus about why Diana was so tired.

“You did not just make an _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ reference,” Marcus shook his head.

“She’s improving her water manipulation,” Matthew updated them. Diana hummed appreciatively as the vampire ran his fingers through her hair, gently massaging her head. She had a small headache due to dehydration but the pressure of Matthew’s fingertips helped relieve some of the pain. “It’s going to take time for her to learn how not to drain herself of water when using her powers, though.”

Miriam slid off the counter she was sitting on, snagging a glass of water and offering it to the witch. Diana turned her face into Matthew’s neck with a small groan. “You should really drink some more. You’re still recovering from Matthew feeding on you, and you desperately need the fluids. It might be uncomfortable for you, but it’s better than an IV, which is what we’ll have to give you if you don’t rehydrate enough orally.”

“No needles,” Diana mumbled into Matthew’s sweater.

“Then you need to continuing drinking, _ma lionne_ ,” he said softly.

Sophie emerged from the kitchen, rubbing her rounded belly with one hand and carrying a glass of ice tea with the other. “This will be much better than water. I added in some of those supplements Marcus is insisting you take and a little extra sugar for sweetness.”

Diana sat up to take the glass, ice tea much more appealing to her than plain old water. Miriam huffed and placed the glass of water down on the coffee table, calling for Marcus to come and help her analyze some data on her laptop. The two vampires vacated the room together and Hamish followed after them shortly, while Nate and Sophie left to go and find some cookies in the kitchen, as the baby was currently craving chocolate chips. Now the room was less crowded, Sarah and Em took seats in the armchairs opposite the couch, watching dutifully as Diana gradually drank the ice tea, emptying the glass.

“Marcus’ vitamin powder tastes horrible,” she wrinkled her nose, passing the glass off to Matthew, who placed it on the floor beside him. “Adds this foul metallic taste to the peach and lemon flavorings.”

“Your immune system was weakened due to the blood loss you experienced when feeding me,” Matthew explained, rubbing her arm supportively. “The vitamins and minerals in the supplements will help you build it back up quickly, which is important if we’re going to get you vaccinated for when we timewalk. You should be eating more high-calorie foods as well, if possible.”

“Speaking of foods,” Em piped up. “I’m going to head to the butcher’s later on to grab steaks for dinner tonight. Do I need to get multiple cuts for you, Miriam and Marcus, Matthew?”

The vampire’s warm expression morphed into an impassive one, but Diana could sense his sudden nervously. “Actually, Emily, the three of us were planning on driving over to the Albert J. Woodford Memorial State Forest to do some hunting tonight.”

Sarah visibly bristled. “I don’t suppose any of you have valid American hunting licenses.”

“Oh, lower your hackles, Sarah.” Em swatted at her lightly with her hand. “They’ll just be picking off a couple of deer. I’d rather they feed on some white-tails than on Diana - or us.”

“How long will you be gone?” Diana questioned, trying not to sound too upset or panicked. Ever since being abducted from Sept-Tours and tortured by Satu, she always became anxious at the thought of separating from the vampire for any considerate length of time.

“Approximately three hours. We’ll go in the middle of the night when you’re asleep. You’ll barely notice I’m gone,” he soothed her.

Diana did, in fact, notice that Matthew had left her. She woke up in complete darkness with her heart jackhammering in her chest, adrenalin flooding her veins and her lungs feeling as if they were being crushed. She’d had the same nightmare as the last two nights - with subtle differences. Instead of her and Matthew training together, they’d been having some form of argument. He’d angered and scared her so much that the witchfire had formed as a writhing, scorching coil within her, that despite her efforts, Diana hadn’t been able to contain. The sight of the vampire’s blood and his gaze, which had been fearful and shocked as he stared at her, had caused her to startle awake - to find herself alone and cold in bed, the sheets creased from where Matthew had laid down earlier before leaving.

She was so overwhelmed with emotions that she burst into tears. Within seconds, the beginnings of a tornado were tearing up the attic, and water was flooding down the walls from where huge tennis ball size globules were condensing on the ceiling directly above her.

Sarah and Em came sprinting up the stairs, but stood back with devastated looks on their faces as they realized that Diana was out of control, and there was no way to comfort her - because it wasn’t them that she needed. Through the wind and rush of water, Diana heard Sarah shout down the stairs to Hamish that he needed to call Matthew and get him back home as soon as possible.

Diana felt terrible. Especially when Sophie appeared, dark bags under her eyes and insisting she was fine as she sat next to the witch and pulled her in for a hug, her belly which was swollen with her and Nate’s baby firm between them, while Em and Sarah gently rubbed their niece’s back. Wrapped up in a witch and daemon cuddle sandwich, Diana was finally able to calm down enough to stop the witchwater; the witchwind continued, howling throughout the entire house, which itself creaked and moaned at the abuse it was receiving.

The sob of relief Diana emitted when Matthew flashed to her side and gathered her into his embrace was reflected in her witchwind which, after causing the whole house to shudder one last time, dissipated completely. He murmured quiet reassurances to her as they hugged. The witches and daemons left the room and Marcus only remained behind for an extra minute so he could check Diana’s pulse and give her a small sedative pill. Although she hated taking drugs, she swallowed it down with a gulp of water when Matthew shot her a pleading glance. Settling back against the vampire’s chest as he spooned her while leaning against the background, she closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, exhaustion washing over her. Hopefully the sedative would make her sleep dreamless, so she could finally get some rest.

“I need to know whether these nightmares are visions or not,” Diana croaked, once they were finally alone. “I can’t go on like this… I can’t keep dreaming about hurting you. I’m terrified to make a single move around you in case my witchfire is accidentally set off.”

Matthew rested his cheek against the side of her head. “Is there any way to tell whether your dreams are prophetic or not?”

“I don’t know,” she said wearily. “I’ll ask Sarah and Em in the morning. They might be able to help.”

They discussed it with Diana’s aunts over coffee while Hamish and Miriam enjoyed a match of chess, and Sophie, Nate, and Marcus played a game called _Cards Against Humanity_ that the younger vampire had brought with him (much to Matthew’s displeasure and annoyance). Sarah and Em were intrigued when Diana explained her recent dreams.

“Dream visions are the first way second sight presents itself in younger witches developing their powers,” Em mused. “And you were spellbound, so it is highly likely that you’re just discovering those abilities now. Rebecca was an amazing seer - it makes sense that you would inherit that magic from her.”

Sarah refilled her coffee mug, taking a sip. “You did DNA tests on her, Matthew. You should know whether she inherited second sight or not.”

“Diana does carry the genes that indicate psychic and prophetic abilities,” Matthew confirmed, squeezing Diana’s hand under the kitchen table.

“Have you had any other weird dreams other than your three recent ones?” Em questioned.

Thinking it over, Diana admitted, “I have been getting these really strange dreams ever since Oxford about spiders, and being wrapped up in webs. I’m thinking now that those could have been related to -”

“You being spellbound,” Matthew finished.

“Yes.”

“Well, it does sound as if you’re developing second sight,” Em nodded. “I think there is a way we might be able to confirm it. It will involve quartz, complex spellwork from Sarah and some timewalking on your part, Diana. Think you’re up for it?”

“I’m up for anything that will give us some answers.”

Sarah swung her mug back, gulping down the last dredges of her coffee before standing and heading towards the still room. “You’ll have to timewalk back to the day before your first dream about the witchfire and Matthew, and you’ll need to take me with you.”

Matthew escorted Diana as they followed after her aunt, and the witch winced at the faint expression of alarm on the vampire’s face. “Diana’s only timewalked by herself before, a few minutes back in time. You really think she’s ready to travel three days back in time, with a passenger?”

“She needs to practice if she’s going to be taking you back to whenever in the past you’re aiming for,” Sarah raised her eyebrow at him. “Three days won’t be that difficult for her, and it will be easier taking me along for her first passenger than you or anybody else, since we’re blood-relatives. Our magic is somewhat compatible. There’s no way she’ll be able to learn how to timewalk with a vampire if she can’t learn how to do it with a witch first.”

Matthew opened his mouth to protest again, his protective instincts flaring up, but Diana stopped him with a firm grasp of his arm and a pointed look. “It’s fine, Matthew. Sarah is right. I do need to practice timewalking further back and with a passenger - and it’s not as if you’re going to be able to perform this spell. I’ll be okay. I promise.”

The vampire appeared uneasy, but he nodded his agreement. “All right. If you’re certain.”

“I am.”

“I’ll leave the two of you to it, then.” Matthew leaned in to press a tender kiss to Diana’s lips, resting his forehead against hers as he murmured, “I’ll be in the family room watching over the others, to make sure Nate doesn’t attempt to strangle Marcus. Come back to me as soon as you can. I love you.”

“I love you too.” She gave him one last kiss before watching him go, her heart clenching slightly at the sight. Swiveling around to face her aunt, she forced a smile and put on a chipper, determined voice, saying, “Let’s get to work.”

Timewalking with Sarah was an experience, to say the least. It wasn’t necessary for Diana to hold three items specifically connected to three days ago - she could already feel the threads of time calling her there - but she found herself wishing she had chosen things to carry to help guide her when after she and Sarah raised their feet and stepped down, Diana felt like she was being squeezed through an extremely narrow tube and stretched by all the tendrils of life tugging at her. They landed in the still room and a check of the calendar and clock told them that they’d landed on the correct day, in the early evening.

“Well done, Diana,” Sarah praised her. Hastily casting a searching glance out of the window, she observed, “Matthew and the others are helping Em fix that broken fence near the barn. Let’s get this spell done quickly and get out of here because your vampire realizes something is off.”

She snagged a hefty quartz crystal from one of the still room drawers before the two witches climbed the stairs up to the attic bedroom. The sheets and blankets on the bed were still roughly tangled from what Matthew and Diana had been doing the night before. Diana fought back her flush of embarrassment when Sarah shot her an unimpressed look. Taking out a small piece of paper tucked into her cardigan, her aunt read over the spell she’d written down on it several times before weighing the crystal in the palm of her dominant hand and speaking the incantation. It was a channeling spell that covens often used to help train younger witches with earth magic, as by channeling their powers through the crystal, they could learn how to manipulate certain elements. They were using the spell and crystal in regards to Diana and her second sight as a sort of magical residue would be left behind within the crystal if she used her powers near it; Em and Sarah would then be able to analyze that magical residue to determine what kind of magic it was that she’d been using.

“I need a couple strands of your hair and a drop of blood,” Sarah told Diana, after finishing off the enchantment. “That way it will channel your magic more precisely.”

“If I prick my finger, Matthew will come straight away,” she warned.

“Then we better complete this spell quickly and jump back to our present before he arrives.”

Diana raked her fingers through her hair to gather several loose strands, handing them over to her aunt and watching curiously as Sarah wound them around the width of the crystal. There was a miniature sewing kit at the bottom of one of drawers of her bedside table; extracting a needle from it, Diana swiftly punctured her skin lightly on her left hand pinkie finger, squeezing to cause a drop of blood to well up. She allowed the drop to fall directly onto the crystal as per Sarah’s directions. Her aunt then wrapped the crystal in a handkerchief from her pocket, knelt down and placed it underneath the bed, out of sight. Matthew would only find it if he was specifically looking for it.

Speaking of whom, Diana had just gripped Sarah’s hand and raised her foot in preparation for them to timewalk back to the present when Matthew appeared at the top of the staircase, his eyes wide with panic as he snapped his head back and forth frantically. He relaxed upon seeing the sight of the two witches together, but narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“You were bleeding,” he accused Diana. “I could smell it.”

“It’s fine,” she reassured. “Just a small spell. It’s already healed up.”

Matthew obviously didn’t believe her, because he stalked forward and took hold of her hand, examining it carefully. His shoulders slumped in relief when he saw that the pinprick had indeed already sealed over. But when he looked back up at Diana, he cocked his head to the side, running his eyes up and down her confusedly. “You’re… different. Something’s changed.”

Diana and Sarah exchanged amused glances.

Matthew realized in a split second. “Ah.” He took a step back, a proud grin spreading over his face. “Happy to see your timewalking training is coming along well.”

She ducked her head, abashed. “I’ll be bringing you back in time alongside me soon.”

“And I look forward to it.”

“You can’t mention this to your Diana,” Sarah told him. “She wasn’t aware this trip had already happened when we decided to make it.” She frowned. “If that even makes any sense.”

“I won’t tell her. I’m good with secrets, Sarah,” he smiled. He dropped a kiss on Diana’s forehead, his lips cold on her skin physically but warm in every other way, before backing away. “I suppose I’ll see you very soon.”

“I’ll be back in your arms before you even know it.” She paused, then added, “By the way, Nate and Marcus are going to try and prank you tonight by lacing your wine with salt. I thought it was a little strange how my Matthew was reluctant to drink from the glass Sophie gave him.”

Matthew laughed, his eyes twinkling. “Thank you for the warning, _mon coeur_.”

When they arrived back in the present, Sarah and Em hurried up to the attic to fetch the crystal, which should have channeled Diana’s magic if she’d used it while sleeping to have dream visions by now, while she skipped into the family room to find her vampire. Matthew was sitting next to Miriam with the long-suffering expression of a father who had spent the last ten minutes trying to wrangle several unruly children - the children, in this case, being Marcus and Nate, who had moved onto Monopoly and were both begging Hamish to give them loans. The daemon had apparently bankrupted them both by buying all of the expensive properties and train stations early in the game.

“You really are good at keeping secrets,” she commented, hugging Matthew from behind. “You knew that my timewalking trip with Sarah would be successful because you saw us.”

“I’ll always have the utmost faith in you,” he promised. “Did Sarah complete whatever spell she needed to cast?”

“We’re meant to meet them in the still room now. Em’s going to check over the crystal to see whether or not my dreams are actually prophetic or not.”

“We shouldn’t keep them waiting, then.” Matthew heaved himself to his feet. “You have my full permission to punch Marcus in the face if he begins cheating in an attempt to beat Hamish,” he informed Miriam. “Although I reckon Hamish will get to him before you do.”

“Oh, Marcus has already cheated twice,” Miriam said smoothly. “I’m just waiting for Hamish to realize.”

The daemon whipped around, appearing furious. “What?”

Diana and Matthew left before a fight could break out, trusting that Miriam would be able to stop any bloodshed between the younger vampire and the daemons. As they entered the still room, Em passed Matthew a glass of wine and Diana a cup of tea, asking them both to sit down - which indicated that bad news was coming.

“You are using second sight in your sleep, so your dreams and nightmares are visions of the future,” Sarah said. “But only possible futures. Your actions dictate whether or not those visions actually become true. You said your dream last night was different from your other ones. That’s because the circumstances changed.”

“So we can ensure that what I’m seeing in my dreams doesn’t actually happen?” Diana asked hopefully.

Em shook her head. “You can’t avoid the future, Diana. Your mom tried to do that several times and it just ended up making what she was trying to avoid worse. You’ll need to face it one way or another.”

She stood abruptly, anger flitting through her. “If you really think I’m just going to accept that it’s inevitable that I’m going to accidentally hurt Matthew with witchfire, then you don’t know me at all. I’m not going to let that happen.”

She stormed out of the still room and then out of the house. The fury bubbling below the surface of her skin was reminding her of the rage she’d felt in her dreams, that had triggered her witchfire to be released. Diana refused to be around anybody she loved when she felt this way when she knew there was a chance she could hurt them. Her feet had minds of their own, walking her out into the woods and deeper into the thicker vegetation, further away from the Bishop house. The more distance there was between her and her loved ones, the safer Diana felt, but then her anxiety kicked when she realized that by staying away from Matthew, her family and friends, that meant she was out in the forest alone and vulnerable.

“Diana, stop!” she heard Matthew call from behind her. The vampire was following her. Of course he was. “I know you’re upset, but we need to talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about!” she shouted back. “You can’t be near me, Matthew! If it’s true that my vision is going to come true somehow, then you need to stay away from me. I don’t want to hurt you!”

She blinked, and Matthew was standing in front of her. Scrambling back, Diana raised a finger at him to silently order him to stay away, but the vampire ignored it and approached her with a distraught expression. “You’re hurting me right now by telling me to stay away. Pulling away from me and everybody you love is not going to help, it’s going to make it worse.”

“Stay away, Matthew,” she warned him. The addition of fear to the anger and frustration inside her was transforming it into a volatile mixture; it was like an exothermic chemical reaction, with the heat building up and causing her to break out in a sweat. The flames had erupted in her chest and were steadily rising into a raging fire that would soon overtake her whole body. “I… the witchfire is coming. Don’t come near me.”

“Diana…” He stepped even closer, his hand extended.

“I said _STAY AWAY!_ ”

With the roar of her words and thrusting out of her hands, the witchfire surged out of her in a wide circle, scorching the grass and plants as the blaze rolled over the ground. It was nothing like the time she’d shot witchfire towards Juliette - that time, she’d had some control as the fire had formed a bow in her hand she’d been able to aim before releasing it. Diana cried out in horror as Matthew was struck by the flames and he went flying backward. Once the flames had died down and embers lay crackling around her, the witch rushed over to the vampire, shaking with distress over what she’d just done. In trying to avoid hurting Matthew with witchfire, she’d exploded at him and triggered the inferno to rush forth. She felt as if the fates themselves were laughing at her.

She was too scared to get close to him, in case the flames erupted out of her again and hurt him further. But as Diana turned around to begin yelling to Miriam and Marcus for help, she saw Matthew sit up on the ground, looking dazed and winded but… completely fine. He wasn’t burnt at all. The sleeves of his sweater were slightly singed, but his clothes showed no other fire damage. Diana collapsed to her knees in utter relief. The burning sensation in her lungs gradually faded, tiredness taking over from her anger and fear and extinguishing the last remnants of the witchfire within her.

“I’m rather glad Emily and Sarah cast that fire repellent spell on me now before I decided to follow you,” Matthew said, breathless.

“You _idiot!_ ” Diana punched him in the arm, tears flowing freely from her eyes. “Dammit, Matthew! I thought I’d - I thought you were -”

He gathered her up in his arms so they were hugging, lying on the cold ground, but neither of them cared. Matthew’s body was strangely warm from being struck by the flames, but he wasn’t burnt at all. The realization that she would have seriously harmed the vampire if her aunts hadn’t placed that fire repellent spell on him just made the witch cry even harder.

“I’m sorry I frightened you,” he told her softly, the pad of his thumb tracing the scars of his crest on her back through her sweater. “I’m fine, I promise. Emily had a feeling when you ran out of the house that I needed to follow you, and we suspected then that your vision was going to come true today. We can’t run from our own futures, Diana, we can only run towards them. And I will always, _always_ be running towards you. I know you’re developing all these new powers as the spellbinding on you weakens, and I know it must be terrifying for you. But I’m going to stay by your side no matter what to support you as you learn control. You trust me not to hurt you… well, I trust you not to hurt me.” He tipped her chin up so their eyes would meet. “Okay?”

She nodded, swallowing and brushing her tears away with the back of her hand. “Okay.”

The witches, daemons, and vampires were gathered around the kitchen table, setting it up for dinner that night when they arrived back, walking hand in hand. Miriam and Sarah were overseeing everybody as according to Diana’s aunt, they needed ‘adult supervision’ when hanging out as a group. If Sarah and Em noticed the slight charring of Matthew’s sweater sleeves, they never said anything about it.

Diana pulled them both aside for hugs when Matthew and Hamish herded the other vampires and daemons out of the room to go and pick some herbs from the garden at the back of the house to season the meats Em would be cooking that night.

“Thank you for protecting Matthew,” she murmured, embracing them tightly.

“No more running from your powers or from your vampire,” Em said, patting her cheek.

“It would have been inconvenient if he’d died,” Sarah muttered, which was pretty much a compliment considering she was talking about Matthew. She was still pretending not to like him very much, although Diana had caught the fond glances she’d sent the vampire’s way over the last day or so. Matthew was growing on her. “Did you learn what triggers your witchfire?”

“Anger and fear,” Matthew answered for her, slipping his arms around Diana’s waist and pressing his chest to her back. “I think she should stick to practicing witchwind, witchwater, and timewalking for now. Witchfire can sit on the backburner for a little while longer.”

“I could not agree more,” Diana nodded.

“You look tired, Diana,” Em observed. “Maybe you should take a nap before dinner. Get some fluids in you before Miriam and Marcus come at you with an IV again.”

“Good idea,” she sighed.

Matthew tugged her hand. “Come on. I’ll read you one of scientific papers from my cell phone. That will send you straight off to sleep.”

“They’re not that boring!” she protested, defending his work.

The vampire chuckled, leading her toward the stairs. “You’re a historian, Diana, not a scientist. I’m not going to be offended if you find my papers on evolutionary accumulation of epigenetic DNA tags dull.”

“Don’t let Miriam or Marcus hear you insulting your work. They’ll think I’ve turned your interests away from modern science and back to nineteenth-century alchemy.”

“Miriam was ever so annoyed when she found out I’d sat in on a couple of your lectures back in Oxford.”

There was a yelp from the family room, that sounded like it was made by Marcus, followed by some heavy cursing. Matthew sighed, rubbing his hand over his face, and moved away from the staircase and towards the doorway to go and sort out whatever argument the vampires and daemons had got into.

“Let Miriam deal with it, Matthew,” Diana said, not releasing his hand and pleading with her eyes for him to let it go. “She’ll put them in place.”

“Sometimes I feel like Marcus needs one of those child harnesses you can clip a leash onto when he’s around new creatures, especially new daemons. He gets ever so excited.”

“Let Nate and Marcus have their fun. They’re just competitive when playing board games. Now, I want to cuddle with my vampire and have a nap before the hurricane that will be a family dinner between three vampires, three witches and three daemons. That witchfire eruption’s left me feeling cold and I need to be wrapped in blankets.”

Matthew immediately turned to face her, a heated spark in his gaze. “Or heated up in some other way,” he said, licking his lips.

“Stop it,” she poked him in the shoulder, smothering her giggle with her hand.

“Are you protesting?” he arched an eyebrow.

“You’re dangerous, Matthew de Clermont. I could so easily get addicted to you.”

“That suggests that you’re not already.”

“Oh… we’re getting there.”

Matthew uttered a teasing growl, his eyes flashing dark.

Diana’s laugh echoed throughout the Bishop house as he chased her up the stairs to the attic, where they would remain for some time, enjoying forgetting entirely about fear, anger, second sight, and witchfire.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!
> 
> tumblr: @discoveriesofbishmont
> 
> but i'm also on twitter @lexiblackbriar, although that's my arrow fandom account. i don't have an ADOW one (yet)


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